Motion,Ex Parte: SIMON, LINDSEY vs. LYONDELL CHEMICAL COMPANY

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                                Lindsey Simon, et al.,                                §                 IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF
                                                                        §
                           Plaintiffs,                                  §
                                                                        §
                  v.                                                    §                 HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS
                                                                        §
                  Lyondell Chemical Company, et al.,                    §
                                                                        §
                           Defendants.                                  §                 295     JUDICIAL DISTRICT

                                PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO EQUALIZE PEREMPTORY STRIKES

                           Plaintiffs respectfully ask the Court to equalize peremptory strikes between Plaintiffs and

                  Defendants Lyondell Chemical Company, Houston Refining LP, Team Industrial Services, Inc.,

                  and HFOTCO, LLC d/b/a Houston Fuel Oil Terminal Company (“Defendants”) all of whom are




                                                                               all Defendants have a mutual interest to avoid

                  liability and minimize Plaintiffs’

                  strikes, Defendants will be able to stack the ju

                  that no “side” has an unfair advantage because of its strikes. See TEX. R. CIV. P. 233; Patterson




                                                                                   r Plaintiffs’ injuries
                  evidence. Defendants may be theoretically antagonistic to each other to the extent that they might

                  be expected to point the finger at each other, but they are aligned in their primary defensive position

                  that neither of them is liable for Plaintiff’s injuries as well as on the issue of Plaintiffs’ damages.

                           The   purpose   of  Rule  233   is to assure   that neither   side  has  an  unfair  advantage    over  the

                  other. Therefore, the Court must allocate peremptory strikes in a manner that does not allow the

                  Defendants     to  “gang   up”   on  the  Plaintiffs   and  stack   the  jury.  If each   Defendant     is  allowed



                       Patterson, 592 S.W.2d at 920 (“The trial court had a duty to equalize the strikes . . . so that no



                           Given that there are four Defendants, Plaintiff suggests that each “side” receive an equal

                  number    of  strikes  (with  Plaintiff  having   a  number    of  strikes  equal  to  the collective   number     of

                  strikes  given   to the  Defendants)    and   that Defendants     be  allowed   to  confer   with  each  other   and

                  coordinate their strikes. In this manner, strikes will be equalize

                  will not risk duplicating their strikes. This solution accomplishes the goals of Rule 233 and will be

                  fair to all parties.

                                                                      ONCLUSION

                           For  these   reasons,   Plaintiffs  ask  the  Court   to  equalize   peremptory     strikes  by   allowing

                  Plaintiffs  a  number     of strikes   equal  to  the  collective   number     of strikes   given   to Defendants

                  (Defendants’     strikes  on  their  “side”  to  be  evenly   distributed),   which   Defendants     may   exercise

                  collectively.
                                                                        Respectfully Submitted,

                                                                          RNOLD         TKIN LLP


                                                                        By:




                                                                                 ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFFS




                           I hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the above and foregoing document has been

                  record this 6

                                                                                 /s/ Kyle Findley